When it's cold so many people seek comfort in a small glass, convinced that alcohol help the body to warm up.
This belief is also reinforced by the fact that in countries like Russia or Poland where the climate is particularly harsh, alcohol is used, but does this really help fight the cold?
The answer is no, but let's see why.
Drinking alcohol does not defend against cold, nor does it help to warm up.
The perception of heat produced by alcohol is only momentary and cutaneous, that is, felt only on the surface.
This happens because alcohol is a powerful vasodilator, that is, it causes a dilation in the blood vessels that allows the blood to flow more easily at the surface level, in fact the body pressure, after a first rise, is lowered and the heat is dispersed to the external.
After drinking alcohol, therefore, the dilation of blood vessels not only lasts a short time, but also causes the body to cool down even faster by dispersing heat to the outside.
Ė therefore even more dangerous to take alcohol in case of intense cold, when you are exposed to cold temperatures for long periods of time or if you are in an unheated environment.
Furthermore, the intake of alcoholic beverages, by lowering the body temperature, causes a state of numbness for which one falls asleep more easily.
For protect yourself from the cold and to try to keep the thermal equilibrium constant, our body instead needs to activate the opposite mechanism: the vasoconstrictionthat is, blood vessels narrow, blood circulation on the skin surface slows down, blood flow moves to important internal organs (heart, brain, lungs, liver) decreasing heat loss to the outside.
It is therefore this that determines the warmth in our body and not alcohol, contrary to what we think.
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